The Perfect Macaron

Making French Macarons is like a test of patience. It is also mustering your guts to never decide to stop trying if the first, second, third attempt and so on.. failed. You have to have more patience than Darth Vader!

I've seen videos posted on youtube, pictures posted on blogs, recipe books.. some had rough surfaces, uneven shapes, flat, and uneven pied. And I always look back and see; how far have I "perfected" my skills in making them?

At one point making macarons became easy because I had a state of the art bad ass oven. Now making them elsewhere that shook me out of my whisk! wits, that is! Ovens, especially home ovens have different personalities. You have to adjust the temperature, observe where the hot spots are, observe the heat distribution. It takes time, resources (supplies - expensive almond flour!) and lots of patience.

Another thing to be very particular is the quality of the ingredients. Make sure the almond flour is fresh and finely ground. It should be fluffy and and not clumping. It should be fairly dry. Egg whites should be fresh and then "aged" at least a day. I prefer room temperature egg whites.

One more advice - watch that meringue! be it your macaron is made with french meringue or italian meringue (my preferred method) always make sure that it is made stiff and fluffy and not dry. As for italian meringue, the sugar temperature should be at point as per the recipe you are following.

Use double sheets of baking pan. First it prevents the batter from getting too excited to puff up while the shell hasn't set yet. Some home ovens don't have convection or fan, the heat source is coming from the bottom, heat is not circulated. The double layer of sheet pan regulates the heat. It's working the timing of the outer shell drying up and slowly cooking the inside of the macaron.

Make sure that the batter had enough time to dry its surface before baking them. This actually helps also in preventing the macaron from cracking once placed in the oven.

If you think about it, there's a lot of science going on with this simple looking sandwiched cookie and it's very intimidating to make. It is rocket science!

Ask me, maybe? I can probably help out a little bit in your quest to conquer the french macaron!